


The Princess and the Pirate

by Eclectic80



Category: Girl Genius
Genre: AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 08:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7566646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eclectic80/pseuds/Eclectic80
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dupree acquires an intern.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Princess and the Pirate

**Author's Note:**

> All characters are property of the Foglios.
> 
> AU where the Baron required Anevka replace Tarvek when he was sent home. Takes place not long after Gil was sent to Paris.

"And don't burn any towns, Dupree," said Baron Wulfenbach, as he had a hundred times before. "Just go check on Gil and find out why his letters have gotten so cryptic."

"Boring," complained Bangladesh Dupree, but obediently held out her hand for the written orders. Klaus didn’t say she couldn't bomb any towns or kill anyone, so she still had enough leeway to make it interesting.

As she approached her airship, the Island Queen, a furtive shape was disappearing through the hatch. The crew turned a blind eye, per Dupree's standing orders. It was always so much more fun to deal with stowaways once they had nowhere to run.

Once they were out of heliostat range from Castle Wulfenbach, Dupree signaled to start the hunt. Usually the crew found the stowaway within a quarter of an hour and some pirate received bragging rights and a small reward. Two hours later, when everyone was still looking, Dupree had a moment of concern. An adventure-seeking kid or a Jager on a dare would have been found by now. "What's taking so long," she growled to herself and slouched in her command chair.

"Is everyone looking for me?" asked an unfamiliar voice from behind her. Dupree launched a knife even before she sat up and a second one while she was turning. She finished her spin face to face with a young redheaded woman who calmly handed her three knives. Given that she'd only thrown two, that was a nice touch. 

Dupree quickly checked that the rest of her knives were still where they belonged. "Got any other tricks? I assume you have some reason for being here." Dupree looked closer for a second. "Aren’t you one of the kids from Klaus’ school?"

The girl drew herself up. "I am not a kid. I'm Princess Anevka Sturmvoraus, and I want to learn to be a pirate queen."

While taking off with one of Klaus’ castle students was probably a bad idea, that was a sentiment Dupree could entirely get behind. She often wondered why everyone didn't want to be a pirate. This girl had guts, some interesting skills, and, judging from her willingness to take off on a pirate ship, Klaus probably wouldn't mind Dupree taking her off his hands for a while. "Why not?" she agreed. “I could use a new cabin girl. We'll tell Klaus it's an internship."

"Hands-on management training."

"Yeah!" This could turn out to be an interesting trip after all.

For a princess, Anevka was surprisingly willing to do what she was told and the standard new-recruit hazing didn't faze her at all. She spent a night shift shoveling coal with the black gang and still managed to set a very elegant breakfast for the Captain the next morning. Dupree checked the perfectly pressed napkin for fingerprints, but it was entirely clean. She beckoned Anevka along for her morning workout, figuring she'd see what kind of a fighter she was. 

Dupree hadn’t really worked up a sweat sparring with another person since she’d left Gil in Paris. Anevka was very fast, almost a match for her in speed, but far too willing to abandon a weapon and fight bare-handed. Unarmed she might even be Dupree’s equal, but Dupree was never unarmed. It was against her religion. She ordered Anevka to the armory to check out a pistol. "If I catch you without a gun and three knives at any time, you get coal duty again."

By the time they arrived at the docks in Paris, Anevka was well on the way to making herself indispensable. In typical Spark fashion, she'd picked up navigational math in short order and charmed the crusty and territorial navigator in the process. She'd made some surprisingly tactful suggestions in the engine room that repaired some long-tolerated annoyances and endeared her to the chief engineer. Dupree herself was rather enjoying having a student again and Anevka did set a table fit for a Queen. She even dusted all the bones in Dupree’s cabin without being reminded.

Lack of seniority meant Anevka got the first watch when they docked. She was all but vibrating with excitement for her first trip to Paris, but settled into the lookout seat and prepared to enjoy the view for the next day. So far as Anevka knew, they were just picking up cargo and information in Paris, so Dupree went looking for Gil while Anevka was occupied. 

Gil hadn’t moved in the last two months, and was still in the same squalid student flat he’d been renting when she’d left. Playing bodyguard and lover to Gil for a year had been a surprisingly fun job - he could put up a good fight, had a temper that reminded her fondly of Klaus, and while he played the Casanova in public, he was thoroughly embarrassed by her in private. Klaus hadn’t told her to be so completely outrageous, just to keep Gil safe until she was sure he could take care of himself, but Gil’s panic and horror at her act had driven her to greater extremes. His reaction when she showed up out of the blue should be delicious. She let herself into his apartment, waltzing through one Sparky booby trap and inspecting his other security measures, then plopped on his unmade bed and flipped knives into the ceiling while she waited for him to come home.

Not long after midday, Gil opened his door. He was trying to look casual, but Dupree noted with pride that he was poised for either a kick or a knife throw. She was not a nice teacher, but she was a thorough one. He relaxed when he saw her. “Oh, perfect! Dupree, you are exactly the pirate I needed.” His lack of dismay was disappointing, but Gil did have a good eye for an adventure, and if he wanted her help, it was probably something she was going to enjoy.

Two hours later, she returned to the Island Queen with a prisoner in tow. The young man had been making a nosy nuisance of himself and Gil wanted him dissuaded. Dupree figured the best way to dissuade someone was to have them captured by pirates, and she was just the pirate for the job. This one was going to be a great captive - a prince, no less, with a fancy coat and his nose a mile in the air. He put up a bit of a fight when she collared him, but any of her pirates could have beaten him. Not a bad looking man with that pretty red hair, though, when he wasn’t scowling or sniveling. Maybe if he behaved himself on Pirate Captive Plan A for a while, she could think about an upgrade to Plan B.

Reaching the Island Queen, she swung by the bridge to check on Anevka. She was alert at her post, and had nothing to report, but she reacted with shock when she saw Dupree’s prisoner. The shock was quickly replaced with glee, and Dupree awarded her extra credit for enthusiasm. “I ran into Gil while I was out. This guy was bothering him, so we’re going to take care of Prince ‘How dare you’ here for a while. As a favor.”

“Plan A, I assume?” responded Anevka. “Do you want me to take him down and get him started on the cloud barnacles?”

“Sure. I’ll take the watch. He’s a bit twisty, but you should be able to handle him.”

Out of earshot from the bridge, Anevka hissed to Tarvek, “What are you doing here?”

Tarvek shot back, “This crazy woman just grabbed me off the street! I played along, but what’s going on? How did you get off Castle Wulfenbach and what in lightning’s sake are you doing on a pirate ship?”

Anevka drew herself up and yanked the chain binding his wrists. “I’m studying Dupree’s management style.” Anevka opened a storage locker, pulled out a steel scraper and a small blowtorch, and jerked Tarvek’s chain to get him moving again. “You realize you’re on your own to get out of this. Dupree said you were bothering Gil - didn’t you learn better?”

Tarvek frowned and shrugged. “I thought maybe we’d misunderstood each other and we could be friends again. He’s up to something, and I was trying to find out what. But I guess there was no misunderstanding. I know where I stand now.”

“No, you’re not standing, you’re crawling and scraping cloud barnacles. Get to it. I want to see this whole panel clean by the end of the watch. I’m not telling them who you are, but I’m not going to risk my spot by going easy on you either.” Anevka remembered the little boy in tears because he just didn’t understand why Gil had betrayed him and suspected that there was more going on than just curiosity, but clearly that’s all he wanted her to know.

Dupree had rented their slip for only a week’s stay in Paris. Any more than that and the Master of Paris would start getting curious about pirates in his city, and that was a complication she didn’t want to deal with. Anevka bought a ticket to a matinee at the Opera Populaire, but the show was canceled due to the chandelier being destroyed by that crazy Spark yet again. Dupree instructed her in the care and handling of prisoners, reciting the Baron’s guidelines chapter and verse, but adding plenty of techniques that, while technically allowable, completely violated the principles of humane treatment. Tarvek got to be the demonstration model and learned the finer points of potato-peeling. Anevka might have worried more about the repercussions of torturing her future ruler if she actually planned to ever go back to Sturmhalten, but six years on Castle Wulfenbach and two weeks as a pirate had strengthened her resolve to find her own way in the world. No way was she going back to be a useless courtier and potential bargaining chip. Her father and Tarvek could have Sturmhalten and everything that went along with it.

By day six, when Anevka took her daily shift watching Tarvek clean barnacles, the novelty of torturing her little brother was starting to wear off. He was a nuisance, but she didn’t want to see him fed to the monkeys. Father would probably make him go home if he failed his examinations, which was a fate she wouldn’t wish on anyone, and she really didn’t like the new look in Dupree’s eye while she watched him scrub decks. She was starting to look downright possessive, and the last thing Anevka wanted was her little brother, who got freedom from the Baron by bad behavior and rule of Sturmhalten by birth, getting her pirate Queen too.

As if summoned by the thought, Dupree opened the hatch onto the ledge where Tarvek was working, coming to check up on him. Anevka cuffed Tarvek for his attention and loudly pointed out a patch of barnacles, simultaneously flashing him a quick sequence of Smoke Knight tactical hand signals.

“I think he doesn’t want to clean barnacles anymore,” said Dupree. Perhaps he’s ready to discuss a change in his Pirate Captive Plan.”

Tarvek took that as an invitation to get to his feet, stumbling from having been on his knees for hours. He turned to face Dupree as her smile widened into a grin, then with a burst of speed he’d never shown in captivity, he was suddenly behind her, wrapping his wrist chain around her neck. Anevka screamed and attacked him such that he dropped his hold on Dupree and grappled with Anevka. As they wrestled, Anevka continuously maneuvered them to keep herself between Tarvek and Dupree, and Tarvek relieved her of her hip knife, her scarf, and her Smoke Knight-issue reinforced lockpick/hairpin. Another second’s work, and he was free of the chains and leaping into open air.

Anevka knew he’d improvise something on the way down, but Dupree assumed the fall had killed him. She shrugged, dismissing Tarvek as no longer her problem, put away her gun, and turned to Anevka. "Nice enthusiasm, but that's one night of coal duty for attacking unarmed and one more for losing your knife. Overall you did a pretty good job, though. Reminds me of the first time I had to take my brother prisoner, although he actually survived it, the idiot.” She went back into the airship.

Anevka was floored. Somehow Dupree had known who Tarvek was all along. Not only that, but taking a brother prisoner and torturing him was normal in Dupree’s family - for the first time ever, she contemplated that there were families out there possibly even worse than hers.

Back at Castle Wulfenbach, the Baron greeted Dupree with “Is Paris still standing?”

“It was when I left. Gil’s doing fine, just had a bit of trouble with one of his classmates. We helped him out a bit. Problem solved.”

"Good. And did your stowaway cause any trouble?"

"Nah, she did fine. Never fell asleep on watch, fixed the squeak in the right rear compressor, and almost kept our prisoner alive. She'll make a great pirate. Can I keep her?"

"Aaronev will be so proud. Go ahead and keep her, Dupree. A couple of months with you will be good practice for dealing with the nobility. Try not to get her killed, I don’t need any new wars. After you're finished in port, I could use you for a Wastelands patrol out past Prague."

Dupree shrugged off the prospect of getting killed. "A day to resupply and we'll be ready. Wastelands should be interesting enough." She turned to leave.   
"Dupree?" She paused and half-turned to listen. "Don't burn any towns."

**Author's Note:**

> Archived from LiveJournal. Thanks to Lightningnettle there who beta-read it for me.


End file.
